Koxinga

The  Hero of Taiwan and Tainan especially is Koxinga. Koxinga is the Western name for Cheng Chen-Kung(1624-1662). In the middle of Tainan is a city block park with recreations of Koxinga's compound on Taiwan, an alter, a shrine and a museum. (He is the namesake of National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), so I guess that makes me and him alumni members.)

He was a loyalist to the Ming Dynasty Emperor when the Qing Dynasty took over in the 1650s. He retreated to Taiwan and threw out the Dutch in 1661. So he is the hero because:

1. Loyal unto death
2. Defeated the barbarians from the West

The Ming Dynasty was the last Chinese Dynasty as the Qing were barbarians themselves from Manchuria. Koxinga died in 1662 and one of his sons took over and this son was eventually defeated by the Qing armies in Tainan.

Koxinga's rehabilitation began in the Qing Dynasty a hundred years after his death. He was known for his fealty to the Ming Emperor and with the Qing in command for a hundred years he was held up as an example of loyalty to the Emperor. His status increased in the Japanese time in Taiwan as again a model of loyalty. All Confucian societies depend on loyalty. Even when Chiang Kai-Shek retreated to Taiwan in 1949, Koxinga was high on the list of models to emulate (future blog).

The compound is reconstructed in Japanese time and again in 1961.

Here is altar, his grave was moved back to China.

I was one of the many tourists this Saturday, most of the tourists were from mainland China and Japan. They came in busloads. The Taiwanese came one family at a time. This cannon is a replica of the Dutch cannon at this time(1661), Koxinga did not have cannons, with a large army of spear toting soldiers he defeated the small garrison of cannon and firearms. The strategy was siege and the Dutch eventually sued for peace and left.

The park as many beautiful parts.